New Malware Variant Designed To Swindle Financial Data from Google Chrome and Firefox Browsers

Researchers have as of late discovered Vega Stealer a malware that is said to have been created in order to harvest financial information from the saved credentials of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers.

At present,the Vega Stealer is just being utilized as a part of small phishing campaigns, however researchers believe that the malware can possibly bring about major hierarchical level attacks as it is just another variation of August Stealer crypto-malware that steals credentials, sensitive documents, cryptocurrency wallets, and different subtle elements put away in the two browsers.

On May 8 this year, the researchers observed and obstructed a low-volume email campaign with subjects, for example, ‘Online store developer required’. The email comes with an attachment called ‘brief.doc’, which contains noxious macros that download the Vega Stealer payload.

The Vega Stealer ransomware supposedly focuses on those in the marketing, advertising, public relations, and retail/ manufacturing industries. Once the document is downloaded and opened, a two-step download process begins.

The report said “…The first request executed by the document retrieves an obfuscated JScript/PowerShell script. The execution of the resulting PowerShell script creates the second request, which in turn downloads the executable payload of Vega Stealer, the payload is then saved to the victim machine in the user’s “Music” directory with a filename of ‘ljoyoxu.pkzip’ and once this file is downloaded and saved, and it is executed automatically via the command line.”

At the point when the Firefox browser is in utilization, the malware assembles particular documents having different passwords and keys, for example, “key3.db” “key4.db”, “logins.json”, and “cookies.sqlite”.

Other than this, the malware likewise takes a screenshot of the infected machine and scans for any records on the framework finishing off with .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf, .xls, .xlsx, or .pdf for exfiltration.

While the researchers couldn’t ascribe Vega Stealer to any particular group, regardless they guarantee that the document macro and URLs associated with the crusade propose that a similar threat actor is responsible for campaigns spreading financial malware.

So as to be protected, Ankush Johar, Director at Infosec Ventures, in a press statement said that “…Organisations should take cyber awareness seriously and make sure that they train their consumers and employees with what malicious hackers can do and how to stay safe from these attacks. One compromised system is sufficient to jeopardize the security of the entire network connected with that system.”

Because while Vega Stealer isn’t the most complex malware in use today, but it does demonstrates the adaptability and flexibility of malware, authors, and actors to accomplish criminal objectives.